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Huntsman v. Aultman Hospital3/28/2005
JUDGMENT: Reversed and Remanded
{ } Defendants-appellants, Aultman Hospital, Dr. Sajid Chughtai, M.D., and Dr. Sajid Chughtai, M.D., Inc., appeal from the April 8, 2004 judgment entry of the Stark County Court of Common Pleas in which the trial court ordered Aultman Hospital to identify certain documents found in its peer review and credentialing files, upon application of R.C. 2305.252, governing confidentiality of records and proceedings of peer review committees. Plaintiff-appellee is Ruth Huntsman, as administrator of the estate of Aurelia Huntsman.
{ } This appeal arises from an action for medical malpractice and negligent credentialing that was filed on behalf of the estate of Aurelia K. Huntsman, now deceased, after Dr. Sajid Chugtai performed a surgical procedure to repair a diaphragmatic hernia. The next day, Huntsman died.
{ } On September 20, 2002, appellee filed a complaint bringing claims of medical negligence, wrongful death, and negligent credentialing. Simultaneously, appellee filed a request for admissions and request for production of documents.
{ } On November 15, 2002, Aultman Hospital answered the complaint. On October 29, 2002, defendants Sajid Chughtai and Sajid Chughtai, M.D., Inc., answered the complaint. On October 31, 2002, appellee filed a motion to compel, in which appellee sought an in camera inspection of Aultman Hospital's credentialing documents. A second motion to compel was filed by appellee on January 14, 2003. Essentially, appellee sought production of documents from Aultman Hospital that Aultman Hospital claimed were privileged and confidential and not subject to discovery or admission into evidence in a civil action pursuant to R.C. 2305.251. Appellants filed briefs in opposition to appellee's motions to compel. The trial court ruled on the first and second motions to compel on February 25, 2003, and ordered Aultman Hospital to produce under seal for an in camera inspection some, but not all, of the documents sought in appellee's motions.
{ } Aultman Hospital supplied the documents for the in camera inspection as ordered, dividing them into three separate volumes. Volume I contained documents that Aultman Hospital did not claim were privileged. Volume II contained documents from its peer review and credentialing files that Aultman Hospital claimed were privileged under state law. Volume III contained documents that Aultman Hospital believed it was prohibited from disclosing by state and federal law. Aultman Hospital explained the categorization of the materials in a brief for the in camera inspection filed on April 4, 2003.
{ } Effective April 9, 2003, R.C. 2305.251 was amended and renumbered as R.C. 2305.252.
{ } By judgment entry of July 3, 2003, the trial court ordered the parties to submit additional briefs on the discoverability under federal law of the material in Volume III. Subsequently, after the trial court had completed its in camera inspection, by judgment entry filed July 18, 2003, the trial court identified those documents in Volume II that the trial court believed were discoverable. The trial court asked Aultman Hospital to file a response to the results of its in camera inspection by July 28, 2003.
{ } On July 28, 2003, Aultman Hospital filed its objections to disclosure of the identified documents contained in Volume II. In its objections, Aultman Hospital argued that under R.C. 2305.252, the newly revised version of R.C. 2305.251, these documents were confidential and not subject to discovery. In addition, Aultman Hospital filed a brief regarding discovery of documents contained in Volume III.
{ } On August 25, 2003, the case was
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